Sekkei No Heart! Shinko Tragedy
by TheMiseducated
Summary: The great Shinning Saotome had always gotten his way with discreet and sneaky actions. Finally taking it to far by badly damaging his longtime friend Watanabe Masaki's building. Now getting himself in over his head; his rules being broken and his star student/idol's STARISH being turned upside down by the intruding students of Watanabe Academy of Design. Warning - Shounen-Ai Oc/Ren
1. Prologue You want to be one of them?

"Watanabe Masaki?" his playful voice rang throughout the whole class

Of course the students of 2-b were all used to him by now. Saotome Mitsuo was an outgoing flamboyant young man who had dreams of becoming an idol. Popular with the rest of the student body, he always had some big event during the day. The surprising thing about this was the young man Mitsuo was approaching, Watanabe Masaki could easily be Mitsuo's polar opposites.

"Something you need, Saotome-san?" Masaki asked, looking up from his classmates.

Masaki was one of the only students in his entire year to be able to read English without fail, due to his mixed heritage. Saotome glanced down at the book, he could barely read any English, so the book could have been alien and he wouldn't know the difference. Looking back up at Masaki he just shot the man a cheeky smile, teeth showing and everything.

"After school, meet me at the railroad tracks!" Mitsuo informed, spinning in a complete circle to face the young man with his hand extended.

In it he held a piece of folded paper with directions already written on it.

Masaki raised an eyebrow as he looked from it and then back up to the smiling idiot. "And what if I refuse?" he asked, his expression remaining blank while folding his book closed, keeping his index finger sandwiched between the pages to hold his place.

"Well, that simply won't do," Mitsuo chimed. No matter how uninterested Masaki sounded, he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Huh?" Masaki had clearly underestimated the young man standing before him, thinking he could brush the man off with blank expression and a few blunt words.

"You have to come meet me. I won't accept no for an answer." Mitsuo stated, setting the paper on the table.

He turned away before Masaki could even open his mouth to respond. Masaki looked down at the folded paper, his eyes then returned to Mitsuo as he watched him walk back to his seat. Masaki couldn't help but think that Mitsuo was the biggest idiot he'd ever met. Not interested in the slightest, he crumbled the paper up in his hand and threw it behind him. Masaki was the last desk on the left side, so it went behind him.

* * *

The rest of the day went as normal as any other. After lunch Masaki took it upon himself to take the rest of the day off. His school bag was filled with two paint cans: red and silver. He didn't have any interest in school so he never did the work. If it wasn't for his mother begging and pleading for the school to keep him, he would have already been thrown out by now. Masaki didn't really sneak out of the school, rather he just walked right out, teachers too busy with their other students to stop him. Masaki was a lost cause and everyone knew it including himself. Why would he try when there was no point, he thought as he made his way to an old rundown apartment building he passed everyday on his way to school. He had been coming up with a plan to 'brighten' the wall right out front.

"Let's see what I can do with this dirty wall," he mumbled to himself.

Masaki never offered anything when it came to school or work, but when it came to designing things on walls with spray paint, one could say he was a genius. Setting his black messenger bag on the ground, he pulled out his spray paint cans and a dirtied hand towel to set over his mouth and nose. Masaki looked at the wall, imagining what he wanted to put there, after moments of silently piecing it together in his mind he finally picked the red spray can up. He held the hand towel over the bottom part of his mouth as he began to spray a red trail over the wall. Completely focused on what he was doing, he didn't notice that someone was standing only a few feet behind him. Now partially finished with a good section of the wall, he pulled the towel away from his mouth and took a few steps back. Getting a better picture of what he was doing, a small smiled curled his lips. With the two cans of red and silver he designed a finely detailed pocket watch, with parts of the saying 'Time stops for no one, live life to the fullest.' finished. He chuckled to himself.

"How cliché," he mumbled under his breath.

He still failed to notice the young man standing behind him. "Then why put it on a wall?"

Masaki was taken by surprise when he heard the voice. Jerking his head to see who had said it, he was faced with a cheeky smile from Mitsuo. Masaki just gave the other a scowl and turned back to look at his work.

"I waited at the meeting spot for a long time, but after you didn't show I figured I might find you somewhere around here." Mitsuo stated, sounding sure of himself.

His was tone different than this morning, less chipper. Masaki set the rag over his mouth and started back on the wall with his spray can. He shook the man's words off and continued. Mitsuo stood still just watching, glancing at his watch every so often. Mitsuo was determined to talk to him. Hours passed and not a word was spoken between them. Mitsuo knew that Masaki put more effort into his graffiti than he did anything else.

Mitsuo was used to the other ignoring him, and pretty much everyone else. He knew it wasn't because he thought he was better than everyone, rather like he didn't notice anyone. Mitsuo found Misaki to be strange, but when he saw Masaki spray painting he was like a different person. He had seen him a few times around the city marking up various buildings. He had even seen him getting in trouble with the police for it and chuckled to himself as he thought about all of the trouble he probably weasels his way out.

* * *

The sun had started to set before Masaki finally set his spray can down. He turned his head to look at the sky, his hand over his eyes to keep the sun at bay. A sigh slipped through his lips. He must have been bothered that he couldn't finish the wall. Glancing down at his bag, he leaned down on his knees as he started putting his spray cans down.

"Wait, you're done?" Mitsuo asked, shocked that hewouldn't continue into the night. He usually thought that Masaki or people who did graffiti would rather work at night because of less people.

"Well, once the sun sets I have no light," Masaki answered. He stood up and set the strap of the bag over his shoulder.

Mitsuo watched him turn around. "That makes sense…" He had wanted to talk to him but now that he finally had his attention, he felt his throat get dry. "So, can I talk to you about what I wanted earlier?"

"Sure, but only until I get home, then I'm going inside."

Masaki was not very friendly. Mitsuo expected something like this so it didn't put a damper on his spirit. He had actually expected to be shot down.

Raising a fist to Masaki, his smile widened, "Good enough!" He then reached into his bag and pulled a homemade mixtape. "This is a song I just made. One day I'm going to be an idol." Mitsuo stated, holding it out.

Masaki just looked at him, noting to himself how strange he thought Mitsuo was for starting out the conversation like this. "Ok." Out of pure consideration he took the tape in his hand and looked at both.

Mitsuo put both his hands on his hip and made a face like he had accomplished something. "I don't care what it takes, one day I will be a world famous Idol, and when I see you doing your graffiti, I know you understand the passion I feel for becoming famous."

Masaki couldn't deny that. He had heard about Mitsuo declaring that he would be known all over the world but he never took it seriously. Looking at the tape, Masaki realized that Mitsuo wasn't just full of

"So, what I want from you is for you to make my album cover for this song." Mitsuo said, stepping away from the other.

Masaki just looked at him, unsure of what to say. His expression stayed the same but in his head he wanted to laugh. "I'm a bit confused; you want me to do what?"

Masaki just shook his head and stepped away from the other. "I mean that your art is amazing. I've seen you a few times. You and I would make a great team. I want people to see your art and then hear my songs!" he informed, sounding more excited with each word.

"Is there something wrong with you?" Masaki laughed, turning down the road to his house.

Mitsuo followed him. "Think about it! Please, I'm serious." After following him for a few more moments he stopped and watched Masaki walk away.

Masaki didn't say anything; he just waved at the other without turning around.


	2. Chapter One - Not so happy camper

Chapter I – No so happy camper.

The blank stare Masaki was giving the great Shinning Saotome shocked the staff of Saotome Academy. They held their gasps back to see what kind of response their president and headmaster would give to the neighboring Academy's Headmaster Watanabe, Masaki.

Saotome just held his arms out wide and wrapped them around the other. The staff couldn't hold back their shocked noises as they watched the two headmasters struggle in their hug. Masaki wiggled himself free and pushed Saotome back.

"I'll give you to the count of 3 to explain to me why the hell there are gaping holes in my classrooms!" Masaki's roar filled Saotome's office.

His face beat red from the anger welling up inside of him. He almost looked as if he might explode on them.

"Don't worry, it was only a minor setback. I was simply trying to show my staff the dos and don'ts of creating a flashy entrance that I've learned in my years." Saotome folded his arms and looked as if he had done nothing wrong, but in fact he had ruined over half the classrooms in Masaki's main building. Masaki looked as if he might tackle the grinning man and choke him to death.

"Don't worry you say!? WHERE WILL MY STAFF HOLD THEIR CLASSES?" Masaki's tone rose with each word, turning into a full on scream.

Masaki was usually a very calm and serious man but Saotome Mitsuo brought the worst out in him. Ever since they were in high school the pair has butted heads in methods of doing things.

"...There are not nearly enough classes for my students and the construction men said it will take over a month to fix those classrooms." Masaki took a deep breath and regained his composure.

"I can't apologize enough; I should have exercised more caution with your classrooms."

Masaki just looked at the man with a fierce glare; Saotome had been exposed to the glare for to many years for it to bother him.

"I will smite you where you stand." Masaki growled out.

He hated the easy going way Saotome dealt with serious things. Saotome just patted the man's left shoulder and began to laugh loudly. The staff in the room jolted from the power of the laugh. They couldn't help but look at Masaki the Headmaster at Watanabe Academy of design with sympathy.

"I know! Your students can use my extra classrooms while your school is getting its needed repairs." Saotome lifted his hand, his index finger pointed up.

His face looked as if he had made a great suggested but from the face Masaki reacted with, one could say he had said the most horrible thing known to mankind.

"How about, oh I don't know, NO!"

Tsukimiya Ringo stepped forward, a cautious smile curled on his painted pink lips. The cross dressing Idol had worked with the "Free Moon" Company that Masaki had owned. It was full of graphic designers, fashion designers, dance instructors, agents, and pretty much the entire business side of the Idol world. Masaki himself had designed an album cover for the cross dresser once before.

"Watanabe-sensei wouldn't it be best if the students attended here; the schools could both provide transportation for the students to get to and from classes. The schools aren't far from each other and you two have known each other for some time so you can trust the staff here." Ringo continued to smile trying to hide the fear that Masaki might throw him right out the window along with Saotome.

Masaki jerked his head to the side just enough to see the pink haired man.  
"The teachers I can trust, it's this fool I can't leave one ounce of trust with."

Masaki knew that the teachers Saotome gathered were more than capable to make sure that things went well, plus his own academy's teacher would be here. The only problem was that the flaying monkey Saotome would be sneaking around more than likely doing things behind Masaki's back. Saotome just smiled at the man's harsh words. He used his hand to pet the man's cheek in an affectionate way.

"Oh old friend, your students will be treated like my own!" Saotome quirked his head to the right.

"Tch." He made the noise through his teeth. He was really left with no choice, all the other academies were too far and he did trust the staff at Saotome Academy.

Shaking his head he opened his mouth.  
"Fine, since it seems I have no other place to put my students. It's the least you can do what damages you've done." br /  
br /  
Masaki turned to face the staff, who were had a sea of mixed faces. They were shocked but sympathetic towards Masaki because of what had happened.

"Please take care of my students, thank you." Masaki bowed to the staff. He appreciated the kindness the staff and even his idiotic friend had showed him.

"I have to call the contractors about my building, and get everything ready for when the students begin coming here. Take care." With that Masaki patted Ringo on the head, giving him a brief smile.

He headed out the door and could hear Saotome yell with excitement and instruct his staff to prepare for the influx of Watanabe Academy students.

* * *

The days following the conversation between the two head masters, the staff of both Saotome Academy and Watanabe Academy prepared for the move to Saotome Academy. Masaki stayed at his academy to deal with repairs and the rest of the student body that had classrooms.  
The two schools provided the Watanabe Academy students with a charter bus to and from academies.

The start of the week came around, marking it the first day of the joined academies. The Saotome Academy students curious to meet the others from their sister school. Of course there were ones that either had no opinion on the outsider students or weren't happy about it.

"Manabe-kun, please try to participate a little more than just grunts next time." The salt and pepper haired teacher pleaded.

A small framed boy stood in front of him, his hands wrapped tightly around his shoulder bag. Manabe Shouta was a rather serious young man who was more interested in painting then social interaction. Shouta responded with a shrug. The teacher shook his head. Shouta had been in the Digital design class for an entire year previous to the current one.

The sudden move from Watanabe Academy to Saotome Academy had made it even harder for the teachers to try and make Shouta more social towards others. Not that it was any of their business if Shouta had friends, but they were worried that the young man was too much of a loner.

"I'll try harder tomorrow, Sensei." Shouta bowed his head.

The teacher could tell he didn't mean the words as much as he should. The teacher opened his mouth to remind Shouta that he had promised to try harder before and never did, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Both the teacher and Shouta turned their gaze to the door; a young tanned girl opened the door. The teacher smiled, waving his hand to let the girl know she could enter.  
"Hakan-chan, isn't this a surprise." The teacher chimed.

The young Native American girl was named Hakan fox and she was one of the harder working, upbeat students he had. She smiled at both pair standing in front of the desk; the teacher leaning against the desk while Shouta stood a few feet away from him.

"I was wondering if you were busy, I had a few things I wanted to ask you about on the latest assignment you handed out." Hakan tilted her head as her smile weakened.

The teacher stood up straight, he opened his mouth to tell her that he was talking with Shouta but glanced at her pleading expression, then to the Shouta who looked like he was ready to fly out of the class the first chance he got.

"Ah, no I'm free right now. Mananbe-kun please think on what I was saying and we'll talk later." The teacher took his teacher's planner and tapped the boy lightly on his forehead.

Shouta's expression unaffected by the tap, he bowed to his teacher.  
"Yes Sensei." Shouta turned and headed towards the door.

Most people didn't get to know Shouta very well; on account of his serious, loner type nature. Little did the teacher smiling at the walking boy know, that Hakan and him were quite good friends. They didn't have the same class together but they had made friends over common grounds. Hakan knew that Shouta hated when the teachers got on his back for trivia things like not being social, so the pair had worked out a routine.

Hakan was popular with teachers because of her good nature so it was easy for her to approach a teacher and get them to let Shouta go so they could help her.

Shouta looked up at the girl and shot her a smirk as he passed. As serious as Shouta was he still had the ability to be mischievous; especially when it came to getting out of dealing with the teachers.

* * *

With his chance to escape thanks to Hakan, he made his way out of the Saotome Academy building. Shouta and Hakan were some of the many students to get transferred to the Saotome Academy building until their classrooms were repaired. Hakan loving to sing was excited to visit the academy but Shouta wasn't as excited. He felt rather indifferent towards the change of buildings.

He looked up at the sky, it was tinting with orange as the sun began to set. He still had enough time to get to the dorms in time before curfew. There were two more buses that went from Saotome Academy to Watanabe Academy, giving the students enough time to gather their things and talk with their teachers if needed.

Shouta kept his hands tightly wrapped around the strap of his shoulder bag, taking his sweet time while walking. He did think the scenery of Saotome Academy was nice. Rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger as he walked, a sudden rush of tiredness ran over him. He was walking alone with no sight of anyone else in his path, so when a sudden rush of cackling and giggling girls filled the area behind him he jerked his head back. He could see the students wearing the extravagant Saotome uniforms.

Watanabe students had a plainer and simpler looking uniform. Shouta was wearing a black Gakuran, the pins signifying his grade and class type on the standing collar of his Jacket. From a far most would assume the boy was a middle schooler.

He was on the shorter and thinner side, while his brown messy hair made his face harder to see. He watched as the group drew closer to him, noting to himself that the five or six girls were surrounding a tall man.

The man could easily pass as a teacher but he was wearing a academy uniform. Shouta had now stopped dead in his tracks lost in thought.

_What a bunch of idiots their making themselves out to be.  
_Shouta scoffed to himself. Looking at each giggling girl throwing themselves at the man. They weren't anything special so he glanced up at the man. The man was quite attractive, his orange-brown hair falling to his shoulders. He looked like quite the player with the way he wore his uniform and his expression with the girls.

Shouta was about to turn his head back and continue walking to his bus when the man's striking blue eyes caught Shouta's gaze. A smile grew on his face, as he held Shouta's gaze.

"What's a middle school student doing roaming around our school?" the group had moved close enough so that the man could direct his words to Shouta.


	3. Chapter Two - Manabe, Shouta

Chapter Two - Manabe, Shouta.

Shouta's face remained monotone as the 'playboy' and his fangirls approached him. The girls fell silent when the golden haired man spoke. Shouta blinked, slightly taken aback that the man had talked to him.

Shouta's face unchanged as he opened his mouth, "I'm not a middle school students, I go to Watanabe Academy," he responded as if brushing the man's comment off. He wasn't particularly offended; he just hated how frivolous the man seemed. "You'd know that if you weren't so wrapped up in yourself."

He didn't care to stand in talk so he looked forward and continued on his way towards the bus. He could hear the girls start raving and ranting, presumably over the way he talked to the playboy. He ignored the noisy group and continued on his way, yawning into his palm as he made his way to the newly set up bus stop. His thoughts lingering back to the group he had encountered not long before. He wondered what kind of expression he left the man with.

The bus stop was a few feet from the road, just a simple pole with a sign. The sign attached to the pole was bright blue with a white bus on it. He leaned his side against the pole and crossed his arms.

I Oh man…the days seem so much longer because of the travel between schools. I know the career path of both my school and Saotome are in the same industry but why did the Headmaster have to pick this school. /I

Shouta had lost himself in thought as he waited for the bus to show up. He looked to the sides and noticed he was the only one standing around. Taking his phone out of his bag he looked at the clock to check the time, I 6:23pm. /I

He only had 7 minutes to wait and he didn't mind riding the bus alone. Although he did think that Hakan his foreign gal pal might catch up to him in time.

* * *

Shouta swung the door to his room open, he had requested a solo room but because there weren't any available for second years he was forced to share one with another young man. Of course Shouta's roommate was another quiet one, not nearly as serious as him.

Shouta scanned the room for his roommate and, seeing that he wasn't in the room, he guessed he was either still at Saotome Academy or in the dining hall. Shouta set his shoulder bag next to the entrance of the door.

After changing from his school uniform, he stood in the doorway of his bathroom. All the dorms in Watanabe Academy had private bathrooms. He set his hands on his hips and looked around the carpeted floor of his room for his sweat pants. He remembered taking them off this morning and setting them on his desk chair.

"Why does he keep touching my clothes?" he mumbled under his breath.

All he was currently wearing was a London t-shirt that had big ben on it, a pair of boxers and his socks. The t-shirt covered most of his boxers because his mother had bought it two sizes to big in the UK.

His mother was a photographer who traveled all over the world to take pictures. Her pictures were used in hundreds of magazines. Of course because she had travel all over to get her pictures, Shouta stayed with relatives or family friends until his mother came to visit.

Even though she was gone most of the time,he loved his mother more than anything and had bought all of the magazines with her photos just to keep up with what she was up to.

Shouta shrugged, walking over to his shoulder bag to grab his notebook and pencil case. After grabbing what he needed, he sat on the foot of his bed and began his homework. He was a serious student who spent all his free time trying to improve his painting.

He chose Watanabe Academy because of his love for painting and graphic design. He knew that Saotome Academy was for students achieving to be Idols and composers for idols, whereas the students of Watanabe academy was for students wanting to be on the business side of the idol world. So it wasn't a big surprise when the head master informed the students that they would be taking homestead at Saotome academy.

Even while Shouta was working on his general education homework such as math or science he was thinking of painting. Maybe it was the drive he saw in his mother's photography that made him wants to get better at painting.

Shouta did have somewhat of a mother complex. He tapped the eraser of his pale orange mechanical pencil against his bottom lip; having trouble in general education was normal for the short boy.

Spending the next few hours finishing up his work, he'd forgotten to get dinner. He wasn't really hungry so when he saw the time flickering on the digital clock, he shrugged it off. His roommate entered the room, stopping when he noticed Shouta hard at work.

"I didn't see you in the dining hall, when'd you get here?" the light haired roommate closed the door behind him.

His roommate, also known as Abe, Keiichi, was much taller than Shouta and had a gentler expression on most days. Shouta was pulled from his focus after hearing the question.

"I got here a while ago, I lost track of time so I didn't eat."

Keiichi scratched the back of his head while he spoke, "Ahh I see, you should have text me I could have picked you up something from the vending machine on the way."

Keiichi had become used to the tone Shouta gave everyone. They had been roommates since first year, although they weren't really friends.

"No, that would have caused trouble for you. It's fine, I will eat in the morning." Shouta looked back down at his work and began scribbling on the paper.

Keiichi watched the boy for a moment before he started his way to the restroom, stripping himself of his clothes on the way.

"Considerate, aren't you, Manabe-kun." Keiichi said, standing in the doorway of the bathroom in his boxers.

He chuckled to himself knowing that Shouta wouldn't respond to something like that. Shouta almost seemed as if social interaction was a choir. Keiichi liked that he didn't have a noisy or outgoing roommate but wished he was easier to approach.

"Shouta, my name is Shouta, so please call me that."

Keiichi had already turned to take a shower like he did every day after getting back from the dining hall. He looked back at the small framed boy; Shouta hadn't even looked up to say that. A smile curled on Keiichi's lips. "Yeah, sorry, Shouta-kun." Keiichi closed the door behind him and began his nightly routine.

* * *

After both Keiichi and Shouta had finished showering and getting ready for bed, it didn't take long for the boys to fall asleep. Shouta was a hard sleeper so it took a lot for him to wake him up.

I B Riinng Rinng /B /I

Was heard throughout the room, causing Keiichi to quickly slam his hand on the compact digital clock. Keiichi opened his eyes; he watched the ceiling until he heard the other stir in their bed.

Glancing to the side Keiichi could see Shouta rustle out of bed. Shouta sat on the side of his bed while rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. He was definitely not a morning person. Keiichi watched the boy for a few more moments before getting up himself and began getting ready for school.

Shouta waited for Keiichi to enter the restroom before he started to change. It took Shouta only about 10 minutes to dress himself and get ready for the day. He was out of the room in thirty minutes, Keiichi was usually in the process of getting his things together when Shouta left.

* * *

Saotome academy was swarming with students due to the influx of Watanabe academy. As the day passed Shouta barely said a word, he usually didn't talk unless someone said something to him and even then he sometimes only responded with a noise. Shouta was more talkative when he got around Hakan, due to the fact she forced her way into being friends with him. He didn't mind her that much so it was easy for him to talk with her.

The lunch bell rang and all the students poured into the halls. The head master at Watanabe had sent some of his school cooks over to Saotome to help out and lessen the loud on the Saotome cooks. Shouta was the last student out of his classroom for lunch, although he was quick to make his way to the lunch room. He'd barely eaten a bowl of rice for breakfast so he had to listen to his stomach growl all throughout class.

Entering the lunchroom Shouta was quickly called out by Hakan. She waved him over to her table where there was two people he'd never seen sitting on both sides of her.

A young red haired boy with a goofy smile plastered on his face, and on the other side a brown haired girl who was preoccupied with the young red head talking to her. Shouta moved to the table after getting his lunch. He remained silent as he sat down next to the girl, all three that were already at the table stopped and looked at Shouta as he sat down.

"Shouta! I thought you might ignore me," Hakan chuckled as she watched Shouta get comfortable in his chair.

"You'd never let me live it down if I ignored you." Shouta didn't even look up; he shoveled a spoonful of egg drop soup into his mouth.

The two strangers looked at each other before starting to laugh. Hakan smiled wide and just looked at the both of them.

"This is Manabe Shouta, don't let his sharp expression bother you, he can be a nice guy," Hakan pointed to the eating brunette.

Shouta looked up at mention of his name. He glanced at both strangers and bowed his head without saying a word.

"Nice to meet you Mananbe-kun, the names Ittoki Otoya, but you can call me Otoya if you'd like," The red head cheerfully smiled and gave the boy a peace sign.

"I'm Nanami Haruka," the girl smiled, her cheeks turning a rosy color.

Shouta could tell the girl was shy so he shrugged her greeting off not wanting to further her embarrassment. Shouta noticed the pair was wearing the Saotome uniform. He looked at Hakan and shot her a slightly confused look.

"How'd you meet them? They don't even go to our school." Shouta ignored the presence of the strangers and addressed Hakan.

"We met this morning while I got lost on the way to class. I totally forgot where my class was and Otoya-kun helped me out. He introduced me to Haruka-chan on the way to lunch." Hakan explained to Shouta.

She was just like Keiichi, used to his fierce glances and blank tone. Hakan was a strong willed girl from America, so it took a lot more than a short Japanese hard ass to shake her. She actually thought the way Shouta acted was cute in a little brother way.

"I see, well at least you didn't scare them away with the insane way you act." Shouta turned his attention to Otoya.

"Thanks for helping her out, she can be a real fool." Shouta bowed his head again and started eating again.

Otoya chuckled; he waved his hand at the boy and also took a few bites of his own food. He could see that Shouta was stern but cared for his friend. "It's really no problem, I actually enjo-"

Before he could finish he was interrupted by the sounds of girls yelling and cackling a few feet away. Everyone sitting at the table turned to see what all the commotion was about, although Otoya had a clue.

He let an exaggerated sigh escape his lips. Shouta looked at the sighing red head then back at the ground. Remember a similar scene happening yesterday his lip twitched.

"Well hello there little lamb," called out the tall golden haired man, Otoya looked back to see that the older man hand slid his hand under Haruka's chin and lifted her face.

"And how are you doing, little lamb?" The golden haired man moved his face closer to hers.

Otoya pulled Haruka's shoulders back and puffed his cheeks out. "Ren! Don't get so close, you're going to make a scene." Otoya was referring to the fangirls who had crowded around the table.

Hakan watched the three Saotome students interact; a smile growing on her face. She turned to make a comment to Shouta but noticed that he had stood up and was walking away with his stuff.

"Shouta! Where are you going?" Hakan stood up abruptly causing most of the crowd including Otoya, Haruka, and Ren to look at her.

She pointed to Shouta who had now stopped and looked back.

"No," Was the only thing that left Shouta's mouth.

Hakan lowered her arm to her side, a smirk replaced the smile. Before she could even open her mouth to say something back to Shouta, a deeper voice stepped in.

"Your that uncute brat from yesterday." Ren had let Haruka go and turned his attention to Shouta.

Shouta's glare moved from the Native American to Ren.

"What a scary face you're making for such a small little boy." Ren crossed his arms.

Usually what Shouta had said to him yesterday wouldn't bother Ren but because Shouta was just going to leave like he didn't care, made Ren annoyed. Hakan put her hands up and waved them around at Shouta, she knew one thing to piss Shouta off was to talk mess about his mother and to make jokes about his body.

"I see…" Shouta shrugged, even though inside he wanted to jump over the table and strangle the man he knew better than that.

"You're not even going to apologize to an upperclassman for being so rude to him." Ren set his hands on the table and scanned the calm expression Shouta had on, looking for any break in his calmness.

Hakan looked at Ren and tilted her head. "Huh?" she asked, she could feel the tension between Ren and Shouta.

Shouta turned around to face Ren, he looked as if he was being forced to do some kind of chore.

"Not a very talkative guy unless he's picking a fight, is he?" Ren started. The looks Shouta was throwing the orange-toned hair man, made him want to insult him better.

"He was very rude to me and some lovely ladies yesterday." Ren's voice had a condescending tone to it.

Hakan let a sigh through her lips. She stepped out of her chair and walked over to Shouta.

"Seriously…?" Hakan looked at Shouta, by the way her looked back confirmed his story.

Shouta's irritated expression made Hakan cringe, she hated when he looked like that. She set her hand on Shouta's head and forced the boy to bow in Ren's direction.

"Hakan!" Shouta called out as he bent forward.

Hakan also bowed, she was big on respecting upperclassman. Knowing Shouta didn't care to be rude to people younger ot older, she forced him to do the polite thing.

"Apologize," she hissed.

Shouta looked to the side at her and hissed back not uttering a word. He hated apologizing to people especially people like Ren.

"Hell no!" He attempted to stand up but Hakan held his head firmly.

Ren watched the two, chuckling to himself as he watched Shouta struggle. Getting a kick out of the boy's expression as Hakan forced to him to bow.

"He's an upperclassman, you need to apologize or we'll bow until you do." Hakan was just as stubborn as Shouta, of course in the back of her head she was worried the younger one would let them bow for hours.

Otoya looked between the pair bowing and Ren and started to sweat. He tried thinking of a way to defuse the situation but was coming up blank.

"It was probably just a misunderstanding! Ren is probably just joking around," Haruka finally spoke up.

Hakan looked up at her somewhat shocked, Shouta made a similar expression. Haruka looked at Ren with pleading eyes, as if telling him to confirm that he was joking.

"The little lamb is correct; I was merely trying to mend with the young boy. No need to force him to do anything he obviously doesn't want to do." Ren shrugged and set his hand on Haruka's head and smiled.

Hakan let Shouta's head up, glancing down at the boy as he stood up straight. He shot Hakan a fierce glare, then shot the same glare at Ren.

"I'm leaving." His voice was low but very angry.

Ren made Shouta want to yell on the top of his lungs, the way Ren acted made Shouta's skin crawl. Before Hakan could say a thing Shouta had already turned away and started his way through the large crowd that formed around the table.


	4. Chapter three - Simple Man

Hakan had spent the rest of lunch looking for Shouta. She wanted to scold him for being rude to an upperclassman, but also to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Shouta was usually calm and cool but when pissed off he had a fierce temper.

Hakan ran through the halls of Saotome academy, thinking she might be lost, and Looked into the first classroom she could find, trying to get a feel for where she was. She took a few deep breaths, preparing for another frantic run through the hall, when she heard a fawcet being turned on.

Someone was near. Hoping to find a teacher, she chased the sound of running runner. A few classrooms from where she stopped was an open door. She poked her head in, and to her surprise it wasn't a teacher but Shouta.

She slumped over and let out a dramatic sigh. "Shouta, I've been looking for you all over!"

Shouta looked back, his eyes had returned to the calmness they usually were. "Sorry," he said while turning back to the water to continue whatever he was doing.

Hakan stepped forward, curious to as what the boy was up to. He was washing a few paint brushes off, several colors of paint swirling down the drain.

"I was planning on getting on your case about what happened between you and that Ren guy, but I can see that it wouldn't be in my best interest to do that," she informed as she leaned her bottom against the counter of the sink .

She watched Shouta finish cleaning the paint brushes and begin washing off his hands. The classroom they was in was one elected to the use of the Watanabe Academy students. Hakan was in the same class type as Shouta but took a different study, so she had no idea about the classroom. .

Shouta finished using the sink and took the freshly dried off paint brushes to his satchel that held his personal supplies and began putting everything in its place. Hakan followed, curious to see what the boy had painted.

"So…what did you paint?" Hakan smiled at him .

He didn't look but she saw his arm extend. He was pointing to a small canvas set against the wall. Hakan scanned the painting and smiled. The once blank canvas was now turned into a painting of a small child sleeping on a bed. The child was covered with the white sheets up to the waist and held his hand to the right side of his head.

The way Shouta had painted the picture, it almost looked as if the baby had a glow around him. Hakan chuckled to herself as she got closer to the painting. In a short amount of time, he'd painted such a cute scene.

Shouta had a very harsh and unpolished personality but his talent for painting was amazing. Hakan extended her hand, wanting to pick the painting up to look closer at the detail. She stopped herself, her hand inches from the edge. She knew the painting hadn't dried so she dropped her hand and turned back to Shouta with a smile.

"You really should apologize to that guy. He seemed to be a very fun person," Hakan spoke, as if she knew something about him but in reality she knew just about as much as Shouta did.

Thinking back to the way Otoya and Haruka acted with the Ren fellow, she guessed they knew each other well.

"How about I just stay away from that entire group?" Shouta spat out.

He was probably the most unsocial teenage boy she'd ever met. To get inside Shouta's head and see the way he thought would surely be an adventure.

"Don't be like that. If you'd just open up a smidge, I'm sure they'd come to like you." Hakan held her hand up, her index finger and her thumb inches from touching.

She squinted her eyes and smiled. She practically had to hold him hostage before he'd even talk with her for longer than three minutes.

Shouta picked his satchel up and headed for the door, not uttering another word as he walked out of the room. Hakan blinked as she watched him leave. Processing that the boy was just going to leave her in the room all alone, she chased after him. .

Shouta ignored the fuming girl behind him. He was half irritated that she was trying to insist he be more social with people he didn't even go to school with and half trying to get back to his class before the bell rang. He definitely didn't want to be in the teachers focus to avoid another after school lecture.

* * *

About a week or so had passed since the encounter between Shouta and Ren. Shouta was forced to spend a small portion of his time with the Saotome students Hakan had become fond of. Ren was included in that mix but he rarely stuck around long enough for anyone to notice.

Although Shouta had spoken to Ren since then, it was only mere greetings and goodbyes. Shouta had been introduced to several people in Saotome due to Hakan forcing him to hang around. Of course the boy didn't say much and usually left first chance he got.

One of the people he met through Otoya and Haruka was a student named Ichinose Tokiya. Tokiya held a striking resemblance to a popular idol in Japan named Hayato. Although Tokiya had already confirmed that he was the younger twin brother to the idol. Shouta held no special interest in the idol, it didn't matter whether he was really Hayato or not. Tokiya was another quiet one; he came around even less than Ren did. Neither Hakan nor Shouta had really spoken to infamous Tokiya.

* * *

The cool brisk winter air had snuck its way into the halls of Saotome Academy. It was nearing December; the repairs on Watanabe Academy's building wasn't supposed to go on past December 17th but due to the heavy rain storms, the construction crew hadn't been able to work. The head master at Watanabe made an announcement that due to winter coming that they might be using the Saotome classes for longer than expected.

Tokiya stepped out of his classroom; he'd been excused to the restroom. Walking slowly down the hall, keeping his eyes glued to the window where he could see the rain coming down heavily. He was so fixed on the window that he failed to notice flirty Ren walking the opposite way of him, although Ren had noticed Tokiya.

"Ichi," Ren called out with his hand in the air.

Tokiya jerked his head forward to face Ren, raising his eyebrow. "Hello Ren," he responded. .

He wasn't all that surprised to see Ren roaming the halls during class; he guessed the tall playboy was skipping per usual.

"Where are you going?" Tokiya spoke up before Ren could say anything.

They had both stopped in the hallway. Ren shrugged, his eyes closed. "You know the extra room's those Watanabe kids are using? I was going to see if there was a room I could use to spend some needed time with one of my lovely ladies."

Ren spoke so casually that it kind of irritated Tokiya. He knew exactly what Ren was talking about. Ren started walking again, turning around to face Tokiya so that he was walking backwards.

"Wanna join me?" Ren honestly had no idea why he was asking Tokiya but by the expression Tokiya was walking around with, Ren thought he could use a break.

Being expelled from S class probably hit Tokiya's ego pretty bad.

"Sorry but I'm supposed to be using the restroom, so I can't." Tokiya turned his head to watch Ren walk backwards.

"You don't really need to use the restroom; you only used that excuse to get outta that class." Ren could see the truth written all over the boy's face.

Tokiya watched him for a moment. He knew that Ren was smarter then he let on, but to be able to see that was surprising. Tokiya scanned down Ren's body till his eyes hit the floor. Letting out a sigh, he started towards the older man. .

Without a word Ren turned around to resume walking down the hall. Tokiya didn't want to skip but he hated the way the other students looked at him. .

Ren tried a couple of doors, a few halls away from where they had met up. A lot of doors were locked; when it was just Saotome Academy students all the extra classes were unlocked. Ren became more irritated as they tried more and more classroom doors.

Tokiya had stepped a few classes ahead of Ren; he didn't get as irritated though. He simply shrugged it off; he guessed that the Watanabe students did have a lot of supplies and material to protect.

Tokiya was quite familiar with some of the works Watanabe academy had put out. As Hayato most of his clothes and dance lessons were done by former Watanabe Academy students.

Turning the door knob he felt the door open. Halfway shocked he opened it slowly expecting someone to be in it. He peaked his head in to the class to make sure it was empty, after confirming that the room was clear of any people he pulled his head back out.

"Ren, over here," Tokiya called out, they had made quite a distance between them and any classroom being used, so he saw no reason to lower his voice.

A look of relief rushed over Ren, he was beginning to think that the Watanabe students had locked every free room. He followed Tokiya into the room. Both of them looked around. The room was filled with sheet covered canvases. Both guessed that they were paintings because of the supplies lying all over the counters and in the sinks.

The room wasn't very big, besides the counter and sink that lined the wall adjacent to the door; there were only easels with canvases and covered ones lying along the wall.

"Well if this is what's in all the other rooms then I can see why they'd want to lock the door," Tokiya spoke up as Ren stepped over to some of the canvases and uncovered them. .

In all different sizes, the canvases were covered in colorful splashes of paint. .

"How strange, I thought that Watanabe was just for students who wanted to be agents and fashion designer for Idols but they have artists like this," Ren finally said something after they uncovered several paintings.

"Well the headmaster of Watanabe Academy is an artist like this, I've seen some of his work for the sensei of my class so it's not surprising that there are more aspiring artist at his school," Tokiya said as he turned his attention to a painting on an easel.

They had uncovered ones sitting on the floor, so he decided to get a look at one on an easel. He pulled the sheet off in one swift motion, his eye widening as he got a look at the large canvas. Ren looked back. He stood straight up and moved next to Tokiya.

The painting wasn't colorful or cheerful; it was black and white. Two sunflowers were the focus of the painting. In the background you could vaguely see the field of grass and matching flowers, but the two flowers that looked as if they were leaning on each other was definitely what the artist wanted people to see.

Every stroke of paint seemed perfectly placed. Almost like the pair was looking at a photo. The picture was so plain and un-colorful that it should be boring but the boys couldn't keep their eyes off of it. It was almost as if they could feel the passion and care the artist put into the plain painting, it's what made the piece some alive.

"This painting is so…simple," Ren spoke up, surprised at how mesmerized he was by the single painting.

Tokiya just scanned it, everything everyone said he was missing; the heart, passion, and soul they said he lacked in his singing was sitting right before him in the form of a simple painting of sunflowers. Tokiya was at a loss for words; Ren noticed the look and tightly pressed his lips together.

"Siryu. Sun," Both boys heard from behind them. They jerked their heads back to see the short, unemotional Shouta closing the door behind him.


	5. Chapter Four - SunFlower Boy

Shouta looked at both of them as he stepped closer, making his way to the other side of Tokiya, his eyes averted to the painting.

"What?" Ren looked at Shouta, confused as to where the boy had come from and why he came to this room.

"It's the name of the painting." Shouta took his eyes off the painting and met the gaze of the golden haired playboy.

Ren tilted his head, as Tokiya stared at Shouta with the same look.

"I named it after my mother, Siryu and because the flowers are sunflowers. I called it Siryu Sun." Shouta set his hand on the painting.

Both Tokiya and Ren's eye widened as they realized that the small teenager who only had rude things to say painted a piece with more heart and soul poured into it then they had seen in a long time.

"No way." slipped out of Ren's mouth. He disliked Shouta with a passion but looking at the painting he couldn't deny the talent Shouta had.

Ren ran his hands through his bangs trying to grasp the boy's words.

"This is amazing." Tokiya finally spoke up, eyes not budging from the boy's face.

Shouta lips curled into a smile, unable to control his chuckle. He held his fist over his mouth as he laughed in a gesture to stifle it, surprising Ren to see the boy smile let alone laugh.

"No, it's very bland; it was probably the easiest thing to paint." Shouta knocked his knuckled against the painting; his eyes became soft as they scaled the painting.

"But it's probably the one I treasure the most." Shouta spoke; both Tokiya and Ren were shocked to see the expression growing on his face.

Without another word the boy turned and made his way to the corner of the room. There where blank canvases piled against each other, to which he picked up four of them and turned back to the Saotome pair.

"Cover the paintings up and lock the door when you leave. I have to get back to the teacher, he's waiting for these. Sorry for interrupting." Shouta bowed his head and headed out the door.

Ren and Tokiya wanted to ask him more but couldn't get a word in by the time he was out the door. Ren turned and started covering the paintings with the sheets; Tokiya watched the black and white painting for a moment before it was covered back up.

"Well, at least we found a room for you and your girlfriends." Tokiya felt slightly irritated knowing what Ren would be dong in the same room as the painting.

He wondered what kind of expression Shouta would have if he knew what Ren would do next to his painting. He didn't know the young boy well but from what he's heard and seen, he guessed Shouta would be quite cross with Ren.

"I'm not in the mood anymore." Ren's voice had a bitter tone.

He finished covering the paintings to quickly walk out of the room. Without looking back or saying another word, Ren slammed the door behind him, leaving the other all alone in the room.

Tokiya looked down both halls but Ren was long gone, cocking his head to the side, wondering why Ren's mood suddenly turned sour. Knowing that Ren didn't have a good first impression of Shouta, Tokiya shrugged it off as tension between the two and headed back to his class room.

* * *

The following day, Tokiya approached Shouta at lunch, taking the only free seat at the table, which was next to Haruka. She smiled at him and noticed that he wanted to say something, but Shouta was too busy focusing on his food to notice Tokiya's stares directed at the painter.

"Manabe-kun, I think Ichinose-kun wants to ask you something." She was more familiar with Shouta; due to her sweet nature, he got along better with her than any of the other students.

Looking up, the painter raised an eyebrow waiting for the older boy to say something.

"I think Ichi wants to ask about the painting we saw yesterday, but you have such an uncute face he probably finds it hard to talk to you." A familiar voice hummed, putting their hand on Shouta's shoulder.

The underclassman looked up to see the frivolous playboy Ren. As usual, Ren wore his uniform like a host, but no one could deny that the Ren was one of the most attractive men around. Using that to his advantage, he had swarms of girls around him almost everywhere he went.

Lunch was no exception. The girls had shot Shouta glares, mostly because they had heard of situation between the boys.

"Why?" Shouta eyes traveled from Ren's charming smile to Tokiya's strange expression.

"I wanted to ask yesterday but you ran away so quickly that I couldn't, what'd mommy dearest say about the pretty little painting you did for her." Ren's voice was teasing but he honestly did want to know.

"She's never seen it, she works abroad a lot." Shouta felt tired of looking at their faces and started eating again.

He didn't mind talking about his mother; he loved her more than he loved painting. Hakan had heard mention of Shouta's mother and turned her attention to the conversation. The girls listened quietly not wanting to interrupt Ren.

"And why's that?" Ren set both hands on the back of Shouta's chair and leaned on his arms; he moved his head closer to hear better.

"She's a freelance photographer and she gets hired for a lot of abroad jobs. She's also won a lot of awards for her photos." Shouta said before shoveling rice into his mouth.

"Oh they saw the sunflower painting you did?" Hakan butted her nose into the conversation.

Other than his roommate Keiichi, Hakan was the only person at school to know a lot about his home life. Shouta responded with only a nod.

"He painted that after a picture his mother first took in America, she brought the magazine home to show him what America was like." Hakan elbowed at Shouta.

She knew how fond of his mother Shouta was. The other elbowed her back with more force.

"Why'd you paint it after some random photo?" Ren asked; he felt that it would be useless because his mother had the real picture.

"The magazine company closed and the magazine is out of print and all the copies were lost over time, so I painted the picture off of memory. My mother said the best thing about the trip was being able to roam around the sunflowers. I painted it so she wouldn't make such a bothered expression when she talks about those pictures." Shouta explained, he'd explained the story behind the painting quite a few times so he said it like it was nothing.

Ren looked down at the boy's face; he tightened his lips while gritting his teeth. "It wouldn't change anything; she still lost the photos. What a stupid reason to paint that."

Ren stood straight up and started walking away giving his girls their needed attention. A few of the girls watched as Shouta ignored Ren's words, they glared at boy wanting to say something but they knew it would be useless.

Ren's words looked as if they bounced right off of Shouta but truthfully they sunk right in.

"Why do you think I never showed her." Shouta mumbled under his breath, Tokiya caught wind of what the boy said and reflexively shot the back of Ren a glare.

* * *

The next day Shouta and Hakan showed up for school a bit early. Both students had been able to avoid cleaning duty, but they finally got caught by one of the teacher while leaving school and the teacher asked them to do morning cleaning duty.

Hakan laughed, she didn't mind doing morning duty. Shouta on the other hand hated it; he wasn't a morning person so having to get up earlier than normal pissed him off.

The pair started with their classroom; while Shouta was putting a desk back in place he noticed a note on the teacher's desk. Shouta picked it up and glanced over the note.

"Please get all the paint bottles and paint brushes out of the extra classroom's 2b-2d. Thank you." He read aloud, getting the attention of Hakan.

She set the broom against the wall and walked over to Shouta. She grabbed the note out of his head and looked it over like there was a chance something different was written on the note. Shouta let an exaggerated sigh through his lips as he turned around.

"You finish the rooms and I'll go get that stuff." Shouta headed out the door; before Hakan could say anything he was already making his way down the hall.

He pulled his phone out to look at the time, 6:32am. He winced at the time knowing he'd still be asleep if he didn't have cleaning duty.

Although getting up this early meant he'd get to be first in the breakfast line. He chuckled to himself, being a teenage boy he loved to eat.

Shouta finally made his way to classroom 2-b, it was the same classroom that he found Tokiya and Ren in. He painted in the classroom on his free period.

He opened the door; the room was exactly like it always was. Countless paintings covered with sheets and half used supplies cluttered the counters and desks.

Of course he'd have to ask his teacher if he could bring the paint and brushes back during free period. Shouta started picking the paint brushes out of the sink and whipping them dry if they were wet.

Getting his right hand full of paint brushes he looked to the side. Seeing the covered canvas that had his painting 'Siryu Sun' on it, he tilted his head. He had no idea what Tokiya was talking about when he said it was amazing. To Shouta it was just another greyscale painting of some shitty flowers.

Shouta stopped what he was doing and had moved in front of the painting. It was probably 45 inches tall and 33 inches wide. It was a nice sized canvas that he'd painted a few months back.

He yanked the sheet off with his left hand in one pull. Shouta froze; his entire body ached when he looked at it. The once black and white painting of sunflowers was now covered with green and yellow splashes of color. Almost every inch of the painting Shouta previously painted was covered.

Shouta's eyes just looked the painting over and over. Shouta raised his hand and dragged it across the painting, under his finger he could felt that the green and yellow paint hadn't dried completely.

He closed his eyes and kicked the easel that it was on over. The entire painting fell face down, Shouta bit down on his bottom lip so hard it could easily break skin.

"Who the hell did this to my painting?" Shouta knew that whoever did this meant to mess with him. He knew it was a personal attack on him.


	6. Chapter Five - Oh Loyal Followers

**Chapter Five - Oh loyal follower.**

After seeing the condition his painting was in, Shouta stopped cleaning and demanded Hakan come look at the paining. She was just as shocked.

"Did you throw a fit or something!?" Hakan jerked her head back to yell at Shouta.

The boy was known for having a bad temper when angry. "No! I just came in and found it like this. Why would I ruin this painting, it was for my mother!" Even when angry he usually kept his voice down, but at this moment he couldn't help it.

"What the hell, who'd you piss off enough to do something like this?" Hakan rubbed the side of her head.

She picked the painting up from the floor. She looked it over as she set it back up on the easel. _What a shame, I know Shouta has a rough tongue but for someone to do something like this is just ruthless, _Hakan thought to herself, biting down on her bottom lip.

The amount of time she knew Shouta spent on this painting made it all the worse. Not many people outside of his class knew about the painting and just about everyone in his class didn't mind Shouta. No one at Watanabe Academy would do something like this, because everyone worked so hard on their own trade they understand how devastating it would be to have something like this happen to them.

"Who all knows about this from Saotome?" Hakan shook herself from her thoughts and turned to the shorter boy.

"I don't know, just the group that you hang out with at lunch every day." Shouta kept his eyes directly on the color splashed painting.

"And only Jinguji-san and Ichinose-san have seen it in person." Shouta looked to Hakan who had a shocked look on her face.

He raised his eyebrow knowing she had a thought.

"You know Ren's not that kind of guy, he just likes to play around with you because of the whole thing when you first met…" Hakan trailed off.

Her first thought was of Ren getting back at Shouta for insulting him. She didn't know Ren very well but he didn't seem like that kind of guy.

Shouta narrowed his eyes at her; even he didn't think that Ren would do something like this. Without another word spoken from Shouta, the small framed boy dashed out of the room. He refused to wait another minute before confronting Ren.

The anger tossed around his insides, the painting wasn't anything great but knowing that it was for his mother made it special to him.

He looked at the time on his phone as he practically dashed through the hall. The Saotome students should have started entering the school by then. Shouta's usual monotone expression was churned into anger and disgust.

-

Minutes later Shouta found his way to the front of the school, students wandering in and out of the school. Knowing the easiest way to find the playboy was to spot the hordes of cackling girls, he kept his eyes out for the group. He pushed his way through various students, desperately looking for Ren.

Nanami was just getting to school with Otoya and Tokiya; reluctantly walking together they noticed the heated boy. Nanami waved but Shouta hadn't noticed her.

He stopped mid-step and panted from dashing through the scattered groups of students. He looked around thinking that the other could have gone inside, when he spotted golden hair falling to the person shoulders from behind.

"Jinguji!" Shouta called out.

Several students stopped while walking and looked at the dark haired boy. The person turned their head, Shouta's assumption was correct. Ren smiled, he raised his hand and waved at the boy.

Shouta narrowed his eyes and stomped a path to Ren. All the older boy's female followers scattered behind him, as if cautious of the younger boy.

"Well Shou-chan, isn't this a surprise. You've never called me out like this." He set his hands on his waist, his smile twisted into a mischievous smirk.

Shouta ignored the other's words and looked for the right words. The anger stirred him up, causing him to have a hard time filtering his words.

"My painting!"

Ren just tilted his head. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side to laugh.

"What about it?" Ren kept his head turned to the side but his now opened eyes were looking directly into Shouta's.

"I get that you hate me for whatever, but why did you have to ruin the painting I did for my mom? How am I supposed to repair what you did to it?" Shouta's voice got lower with each word, as if the situation had finally sunk in.

The anger has been replaced with a broken sensation. "How will I show my mother…?" He trailed off.

Ren had never seen the boy with such a look. The older boy's lip twitched.

"What are you talking about? Why would I waste my time messing with one of your paintings? You probably pissed someone else off." Ren turned his face forward and shrugged.

Ren usually came off as a frivolous flirt, but there were moments when he was heartless and cold. Of course the smirk never left his lips, which made his words all the more cold.

"Besides your mom probab-"Ren had started but was cut off by Shouta who had pulled his fist back and threw it into the older student's cheek.

It was so unexpected that Ren didn't have time to stop him. Shouta usually walked away but his temper was already on fire that it only took Ren's condescending words to set him off.

Before Shouta could swing at him again, Tokiya who along with Nanami and Otoya had seen the commotion grabbed Shouta's wrists. Ren set his hand on the lower part of his cheek where it stung from Shouta's punch.

The altercation had attracted a crowd of students. Tokiya looked around, he knew that at least one student had to of gone to get a teacher by now. Without saying a word to either Shouta or Ren, he started dragging the younger one away.

Shouta struggled to get free but Tokiya pulled him close.

"The Jinguji family is very well connected, while I know for a fact you're here on a scholarship. You don't want this fight." Tokiya's face was stern.

He didn't know Shouta very well but saw his potential and if he got kicked out he might lose his chance to shine. Shouta stopped struggling and let the dark haired singer guide him to a more secluded spot.

-

While the two escaped, Ren churned in anger. His condescending smirk had disappeared along with all the easy going feelings for Shouta. He'd never been hit like that before.

The girls around him showered him with gasps and questions of concern. Everything sounded like muffled babbling to Ren at this moment as he watched the two disappear.

Without a word he started walking towards the school, the golden haired man was going to find out what Shouta was talking about.

It didn't take long before he ran into Hakan, who was frantically looking for the pissed off Shouta. He stopped a few feet in front of her, even though it wasn't his problem he still felt like he had to see what had happened.

"Y-You haven't run into Shouta, have you?" She held the palm of her hand against her chest as she gasped for air.

"As a matter a fact I have, he gave me a nice little present too." Ren turned his head and pointed to the swelling red mark on the bottom of his cheek.

Hakan winced; she knew that if Shouta got to Ren first that there would be violence. Before opening her mouth again, she looked around.

"If he already found you, where is he?" Hakan's face started turning into an alarmed expression again.

"Ichi swept in and saved the kid before anyone could get to him." Ren shrugged.

"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you didn't fuck up Shouta's painting and your just now learning of it." Hakan swallowed the words as she rubbed the upper part of her arms.

Ren suddenly started getting annoyed as she mentioned the painting. He was sure it had to be the painting Tokiya and Him has seen the previous day.

"Of course not, I don't do petty things. The only reason I'm up here is to see what I got hit over." Ren brushed past the girl.

Without waiting for Hakan to say another word, he quickened his speed.

_What an irritating situation, what a stupid kid to accuse me over anyone else. Why would I spend a second doing something like that over nothing. _The thoughts jumped around in the singer's head as he made his way to the classroom that the painting was found in.

The door was cracked, he lightly pushed the door opened to enter. The room looked the same as it did yesterday. Although all the paintbrushes that were on the counter and in the sink where scattered on the floor.

It only took mere moments for him to see the painting. From the door frame he could see the splattered green and yellow paint.

His heart sank as he moved forward. Before seeing what had become of the boys painting, he assumed that everyone was making a bigger deal of things than needed but being face to face with it had a bigger impact on Ren.

"Jeez…" Slipped from Ren's mouth as he picked the canvas up with both hands.

He could only see tiny traces of the mesmerizing painting he witnessed yesterday. Whoever did this have to of done this last night before the school closed up. The paint is practically dry. Ren just bit his bottom lip and shook his head. A sharp anger rushed over him.

"All the time that kid spent on this, all gone over what!? Some petty grudge someone held." Ren hissed under his breathe.

From behind him he heard the floor creak. He jerked his head to see a few of his devoted fans. He did his best to put his same old Casanova smile on for them but his disappointment could easily be seen through it.

"Like what we did?" The head of the group spoke up, her hair was a light shade of hazel and her eyes matched.

To any man she would be a good catch. Ren raised an eyebrow. The other two just smiled along with her.

"What do you mean, Beautiful?" He moved closer and slid his fingers through her long straight hair.

It was softy to the touch, so well taken care of along with her skin and body. Ren had never noticed this girl. He mentally slapped himself, she was quite a beauty.

"That ugly little punk disrespected you and treated you like a fool. We wanted to get back at him for treating you like that, but he didn't seem to care about anything. So when we heard you talking with him about this stupid painting, we knew it would be perfect. Guess we'll have to do worse since he marked your flawless face, Ren-kun." The beauty spoke as if she had done something good.

The group had barely moved into the room, so as she talked she adjusted herself against the wall. Ren watched her smile grow as he took in what he was just told. He could easily brush off everything Shouta said, so why would they do something like this.

Ren instantly knew what had happened. His stomach churned as his name rolled off her tongue. He moved closer to her and set his hand on the wall next to her head. He leaned in close to her, his breathe against her ear.

"You did this?" He whispered with a sly voice.

He could feel her body shiver as his words escaped his lips and entered her ear. His breath caused her perfect hair to move.

"Yes, all for you and we'll keep doing it until he leaves you alone." She almost jumped at the chance to suck up to Ren.

The golden haired man pushed himself away from the wall, he turned away. The girls just watched him; he slowly stepped towards the counter and picked up the green bottle of paint.

"Allow me to do you all a favor." He turned around while turning the cap off.

In the blink of an eye he slung the paint a crossed the group of three girls. He covered their hair, faces and uniforms in green paint.

"If you had any confidence in me, then you'd let me fight my own battles. Petty girls like you make me sick." Ren dropped the bottle out of his hands.

He couldn't stand to look at their shocked faces any longer. He moved past the girls without as much as a look back.

"Grow up." Were the only words he left the girls with.

He tightened his fists as he moved down the hall. Shouta was just a bystander that got in the way of the older man's catty fan girls. If they weren't terrorizing each other, they were messing with others who even looked in Ren's direction wrong.

The older man chuckled as he remembered Shouta's face the first day he met him. What a gaze, once he got older and grew into his body, Shouta could scare someone right to the core.


	7. Chapter Six - Helpless Riches

**Authors Note:**  
I'll be posting a picture for this chapter on my tumblr( ) sometime tomorrow.

Constructive Criticism Welcome~

* * *

Chapter Six – Helpless Riches

Being pulled away from the forming crowd and heated situation, Shouta had a minute to cool down.

Tokiya watched the boy as he began to pace. Tokiya had pulled the younger boy off to the side of the locker room building. Trying to get him as far away from the commotion (he started) as possible.

"What happened, Manabe?" Tokiya finally spoke up, his body leaning against the wall.

Guessing that something extremely bad happened, due to the fact he went all way as to hit an upperclassman.

Shouta just stopped mid-step and looked the older boy in the face. Almost like he couldn't say what had happened to his painting. He hung his head; all the tears he had been holding in came flowing out.

Tokiya stood up straight with eyes wide. He'd never think that he'd see Shouta cry.

"My painting…" Shouta spoke through the sobs.

Even with tears running down his cheeks and his body trembling, Tokiya saw the fierceness in his eyes. Those weren't tears of sorrow but of anger and confusion.

"What about your painting?" Tokiya extended his hand, but only managed to get his hand a few inches from the boys shoulder.

The older boy knew that it wasn't any of his business, but considering how upset it made Shouta, he felt for the young one.

Shouta wiped his face with the sleeve of his Gakuran; the other returned his arm to his side. As bad as it felt to let the boy suffer in silence, there wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't magically fix the problem for Shouta.

Without as much as a farewell the painter began walking towards the nearest door into the school.

"Manabe-san?" Tokiya called but the boy didn't hear him, or he just ignored the singer.

Tokiya just stared in the direction Shouta had gone in; the petite boy was even harder to read then himself. One minute he was hitting upperclassmen, then crying like he just lost everything he loved, and then running off like he just missed the last train home.

* * *

Shouta was on his way back to his painting. He was so up in arms about confronting Ren that he'd forgotten there was a chance to repair his painting.

As he stormed through the halls of Saotome Academy the bell for class started to rang. He knew that he should go to class but he couldn't risk losing the chance to repair his painting.

The younger teen finally made it to the room he'd had his painting in. Luckily the room was always unlocked.

He stepped through the door, scanning the floor where he could see drops of green paint.

"These weren't here before…" Shouta mumbled under his breath.

He bent over one of the drops and wiped his index finger against it. When he pulled his finger up, he could feel the thick substance on his finger.

_What the hell, did someone come in here to mess with more paintings? I know I didn't drop any paint before I left and I seriously doubt Hakan touched the paint. _

Shouta let his mind wonder off as he rubbed the paint between his index finger and his thumb. He shook his head, ridding himself of his thoughts. He had an objective and he couldn't get distracted.

The painter wiped the paint off his finger using the spare hand towel that was lying on a stack of chairs. He quickly turned to his ruined painting, biting down on his bottom lip.

He hated looking at the condition it was in. He moved in front of it and dragged his nail across the partially dry paint. He could see his previous painting from the mark his nail made. Almost like the paint wasn't dry enough to have soaked into the previous painting.

He moved his eyes over to the pile of empty canvases; sitting right next to the stack was a box of supplies. He knew exactly what he needed, a painter scraper.

He pulled the paint scraper out; it had a long brown and red wooden handle. Attached to the wooden handle was something like a metal blade. It was mainly used for when the students had gotten paint on the floor and wall.

He had never had to repair a painting like this before so he wasn't 100 percent sure it would work.

Without hesitation he returned back to the painting and held the Paint Scraper to the freshly painted canvas.

* * *

Tokiya stood where Shouta had left him until he heard the bell ring. He couldn't skip class out here, so he started walking in the opposite direction Shouta had run off in.

He couldn't get the boy's sobbing face out of his head. What ever happened must have been bad, because he hadn't seen someone that upset for some time.

"Ichinose-kun!" A familiar voice called out to him as he reached the entrance doors.

"What is it?" He should have known that Hakan Fox, Shouta's seemingly 'owner' would show up not to long after the incident.

If anyone knew what had happened it would be her.

"Where is he?" She talked in between breathy pants.

"Manabe-kun?" Tokiya hadn't turned his body towards her, he only turned his head enough to see her.

As Hakan caught her breathe she frowned at the dark haired singer. "No Santa Claus, of course Shouta!" Her voice got louder.

Tokiya finally turned to face her fully. He could see hint of desperation past her irritated expression.

"Well I pulled him away after he hit Ren Jinguji, whatever happened must have upset him pretty bad because he broke down crying and then ran off, but I don't know where he ran off to, sorry." Tokiya did want to know where the boy ran off to but it wasn't his business so he didn't chase after him.

"Damn, thank you!" She turned around and started speed walking to the side of Saotome's building.

"For what?" Tokiya raised his right eyebrow.

He honestly had nothing to be thanked for. Hakan just waved her hand in response. It was the second time that he'd been left without as much as a "Later." in the last hour.

* * *

It might have been strange for Shouta and Hakan to skip their classes, but it wasn't as strange for Ren to decide he didn't need to show up for his classes.

Although he was usually with one of his lady friends, today was different. He wouldn't be able to fully enjoy his time knowing that the little brat Shouta was looking at his painting with _those eyes._

It may not be his problem, but the kid was just someone caught in the back lash of Ren's spiteful little 'fans'. Truthfully it had been the first time someone as petite and young had spoken to him like that.

He could easily know what women were thinking, but Wwen he looked at Shouta, he couldn't understand what the boy thought.

Talk of money, power, and women wouldn't get the boy's attention at all. The only thing that he seemed to be interested in was painting.

Ren would have usually called his driver but he figured it would benefit him some to cool off by walking.

He waited at the cross walk for the crossing signal to change. He felt his hand clench into a fist. The only thing that he seemed to care about was ruined by Ren's petty 'fans'.

If I knew anything about the magazine Shouta's mother was published in, I might be able to get that picture for the kid.

His mind wandered off as he crossed the street. He couldn't keep his mind off of the situation. This had nothing to do with Ren, his fan girls, or Ren and Shouta's first meeting. This was about all the effort the petite painter had put into his painting.

"The only thing I have is his mother's name, Manabe Siryu. Not even a magazine or company name." He mumbled, walking through the streets closest to the school.

"I'm sure him and his mom have looked for a copy of the magazine, considering the way Shouta talked about how his mother felt about the photographs." Ren trailed off, he closed his eyes and tilted his head up.

He ran his slender fingers through his golden orange-toned hair. He opened his eyes, looking directly at a tall office building. A smirk drew across his face.

"Of course I have something they didn't…" Ren was looking at brightly lit romanji letters that read 'Jinguji' on the top left corner of the building.

* * *

After running into Tokiya, Hakan didn't know where else to look. She was more worried about Shouta then what Shouta would do to someone else.

Shouta may have been rash and rude but he was still one of her closest friends. She set the palm of her hand over her mouth.

Letting all the worry and strain show on her face, she knew for a fact that Shouta wouldn't return back to class after what happened. Hakan found herself at the front of the school, facing an empty wooden bench.

She sat down to what seemed like the only moment of peace she'd had all day. What a complicated situation she was in.

She could just as easily shrug this whole thing off and have a normal day, but Shouta was her friend and to see him act like that would break her heart if she didn't at least try to do something.

Leaning forward, she set her face in the palms of her hands. Letting a few exaggerated sighs slipped between her lips. It wasn't even the fact that it was for Shouta's mother. Honestly she wouldn't even care, not because she didn't care about his painting but because she knew he could produce something better in no time. It was the fact that someone actually was out to hurt Shouta and badly.

"It's that bad huh?"

The sudden voice caused Hakan to jerk her head up. Hakan leaned back and let a sigh escape from her lips as soon as she realized that the voice belonged to Otoya. She sat back in the bench, moving herself over so Otoya could sit next to her.

A forced smile curled on her lips while he took the place next to Hakan. His eye's scanning her expression closely.

"It's worse than that. Shouta took this harder than usual. I'm not sure what to do, or where to look for him." Hakan met his gaze.

The Native American brushed her fingers through her coffee brown hair. Otoya couldn't help but find her exotic features interesting. He'd only seen foreigners from afar or on the TV, he'd never held a conversation with one.

"Does it have anything to do with his mother?" Otoya remembered Hakan telling him how found Shouta was of his mother.

Watching Shouta hit Ren was completely shocking; he just hoped that Shouta was wrong and Ren didn't do it.

"Not about his mother, it was about Ren. Shouta hates Ren's type of personality. Ren may be a good person but he seems so frivolous and like everything should fall in place because of his looks and charm. So Shouta thinks that Ren did this and that Ren thinks that no one will care because Shouta is not as attractive and charming as Ren."

Hakan knew the youngster like an over read book. She had no doubt what this was about and why he reacted this way.

Otoya tilted his head, before he could respond Hakan started to laugh. Otoya moved his head back, his head in wonder of why she would be laughing in a time like this.

"Shouta is a first class dumbass; he doesn't know that if he tried he can be as charming as a snake. He just refuses to smile and be nice." Hakan returned her gaze to Otoya's.

"You must have been worried about this if you came all the way out here to ask me about it." She had totally forgotten that Otoya was also skipping out on his class for this.

She needed to remind Shouta to apologize to all these people who were effected in this situation.

"A-Ahh…well actually." Otoya started but quickly trailed off.

"I was more looking for you; I thought you might be looking for Shouta so I didn't want you to get lost." Otoya laughed.

Of course the jokester was only kidding but he did find it to be a good chance to talk with Hakan. He was going to hear about it from Ringo-sensei but he didn't mind, he was young he needed to live.

Hakan raised her left eyebrow, she didn't know if she should be happy or embarrassed with the other. She just set her hand on his head and smiled.

"You don't have to worry about me so much, I'm a big girl." She moved her hand to ruffle his hair.

"But thank you for coming to check on me. It's nice to be reminded someone car-" Mid-sentence Hakan dropped her hand from his head back to her lap

She was totally off base on why Shouta was acting the way he was. In an abrupt jump up from the bench he couldn't help but look back at the red head and extend her hands to his shoulders.

"Shouta's mother has been gone for about 7 months; the only thing he gets from her is the occasional holiday call and a monthly postcard. He's not mad at anyone, he's affection deprived. I'm one of his only friends and lately I've been busy with school and he doesn't get on well with anyone else. He wants someone to comfort him but doesn't know how to ask."

Otoya's eyes widened, he'd never think Hakan was so observant of another person. Haruka was so similar; he could see that both girls had the ability to care so deeply for people who were even just their friends.

The tanned girl stood up straight and turned away. She knew exactly what she needed to do. There were only two people in all of Watanabe academy that could come close to 'comfort' Shouta; Herself and Keiichi.

"W-Where are you going?" Otoya stood up as Hakan started running towards the main road in front of the school.

Without turning back she called out to Otoya. "I'm going to show Shouta that he doesn't need to deal with everything solo, the kids an asshole but he's our asshole."

Otoya lifted his hand out in her direction but just watched her leave instead of calling back out. He had no idea what she was thinking of doing but he hoped it worked.

Ren wasn't his best friends but he didn't want Shouta or Hakan to think ill of him because of a misunderstanding.

_Our? Who else is she talking about?_ Otoya sat back down on the bench, He'd just skip class to meet up with Hakan and here he was alone as Hakan ran off.

* * *

Ren had gone to the Jiinguji office to pay a visit to his brother. Of course it wasn't just a social call; he knew that with the money and connections his family possessed he could likely find the photo that Shouta was talking about.

His mother's magazine didn't just disappear off the map, even if the company was closed someone had to have at least one copy.

He spent the rest of the entire day with someone of his families hired helping, turning over almost every stone. It seemed like every copy of the magazine had been lost.

Instead of feeling responsible for what happened to Shouta, he felt bad because he seemed to be really proud of his work. His mother would have really appreciated all the work that Shouta put into the painting.

The clocked was ticking on 8:30pm when one of the workers came storming through the door of Ren's brother Seiichirou's office.

Of course Seiichirou had been on a business trip all day, which was the reason Ren could freely do this without his brother sending back to school with a lecture.

The worker handed the student a paper with an address and a name. The address was foreign, somewhere in Canada.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Ren scanned the name of the person and the address that followed. "This Leslie Hopkins has a copy of several magazines of a photographer named Takahashi Siryu. We got ahold of her through email and she informed us that the magazine you were looking for has 4 copies in Canada. She said that Canada is the only place you're going to find the magazine because the owner of the magazine company is from Canada, and he gave them out to his friends and through a mutual friend Ms. Hopkins received one." The worker crossed his arms.

"Takahashi Siryu? Are you sure because her son has the surname Manabe and I don't want to mess this up." Ren furrowed his eyebrow's as to why Shouta's mother took a different surname.

"Well the first name Siryu is very unique and Takahashi Siryu is also a freelance photographer, but there was one thing." The worker was sure it was the same Siryu but his eyes held a kind of hurt look in them when his sentence trailed off.

"Ms. Hopkins did ask why I was looking for the magazine so I explained the situation just like you told me and she acted like it was strange that Siryu Takahashi had any children. She said that it was highly unlikely that my sources where correct. I don't think you little friend would lie about his own mother but I don't think that his mother's co-workers or acquaintances know of her son or it would be common knowledge." The man's body shifted as he finished.

Ren just looked at the other.

_Is Shouta's mom keeping him a secret, was Shouta product of an affair. She has a different surname and she's gone all the time. Why would Shouta have such a strong looking bond to her if she was doing that? Maybe this Hopkins woman is just talking out of her ass._

With all the thoughts roaming his mind he bowed and said his thank you's to the workers that helped him.

He folded the paper with the information up and slid it deep in his pants pockets. He wanted to get this to Shouta as soon as possible so that the brat didn't attack him again. He's mentally cursed himself for getting deeper into this unwanted situation.

He's gotten a driver from the office and asked him to give him a lift. He knew that the academy building would be closed so he was going to have to visit the Watanabe dorms.

With the common knowledge he's received from Nanami, who happened to be friendly with both Hakan and Shouta. He could easily find the boy. Shouta was a second year student in the graphic design class of the school.

Luckily Watanabe separated the students by class and grade so he just needed to ask around and someone would give up his room.

* * *

Luckily Ren showed up to the dorm buildings before everyone was instructed to their rooms. There were a lot more students out then he'd think. He assumed the graphic design class would be all broody and weird.

He entered the lounge area of the 2nd year boy's dorms. Most students just passed by Ren without any notice.

After about 10 minutes of looking around, he found a group of boys sitting around a wooden table reading some kind of text books or informational books. The boys didn't seem to be talking but taking notes and studying.

Ren quickly approached the group and smiled. He didn't care what the group was doing he just wanted to know where Shouta's dorm was.

"Excuse me, could any of you tell me where Manabe Shouta's dorm is?" Ren set his hand on the table between a chubby boy with black hair who looked like he was in a daze looking up at Ren and a boy who was almost as tall as Ren with clean cut light brown hair, this boy tilted his head as he heard mention of Shouta's name.

The entire table just looked at the light haired boy. Ren looked at each person and realized they were all looking to the person to Ren's left. Ren drifted his eyes down to the boy.

"That's his roommate Keiichi, so he should know where Shouta is." The Chubby one pointed to Keiichi.

Keiichi just scaled Ren up from his way to his face. Meeting Ren's Gaze the light haired student raised an eyebrow confused as to why this flamboyant man wanted to see Shouta.

"Whatever Shouta did, he didn't mean it. He can be over harsh. I'm sure he'd sorry but I won't let you harass him."

Keiichi didn't care much about what other's thought when it came to his 'friendship' with Shouta. So when people came to him angry he usually tried to keep the trouble away.

"I see the brat bring quite a bit of trouble around." Ren felt a mischievous smile grow on his face.

"Well lucky for you I'm here to fix something I caused with him." Ren stood straight up as if telling Keiichi he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Keiichi bit his bottom lip; he took a better look at Ren's uniform. It only took him a few moments to realize that Ren was a Saotome student. He wondered what a Saotome student had to fix with Shouta.

"If you don't tell me where Shouta is, you not going to have a good night." The older one set his hand back on the table and leaned closer towards Keiichi.

"Is that some kind of threat?" Keiichi was direct with his question, his gaze met Ren like he wasn't even fazed by the older boy.

"As if I have time for that, I meant with Shouta. What happened spooked him pretty bad. He was even crying from what I heard." Ren was referring to a text he received from one his many girlfriends about Shouta crying.

Keiichi's brow furrowed as he heard that. "What made him cry exactly?" The Watanabe student sounded as if he didn't believe Ren.

"Ask Shouta; just tell me where the brat is so I can attempt to fix this." The orange-tone haired man was quickly getting tired of this whole situation.

Keiichi stood up, he didn't really want to tell Ren where Shouta was especially since Hakan had come by Watanabe academy during lunch to talk with Keiichi about something that happened with Shouta but she was dragged off by a teacher for leaving Saotome during classes.

He'd never really understand the relationship between Hakan and Shouta but considering she went out of her way to come talk to the kid's roommate, they must be close.

"Well I would ask Mana- er I mean Shouta, but he doesn't seem to open up to me, especially about crying." Keiichi Pushed his books together and set them in his brown leather book bag.

"Well isn't that sad, are you going to show me to your room or what?" Ren didn't spare any care for the other teen.

He could actually careless about his relationship with Shouta. As long as he got that paper to Shouta, he could go home.

As much as Keiichi wanted to protest, he knew this wasn't his business. He stepped in a lot for Shouta but Ren didn't seem to want to pick a fight with Shouta so he just nodded.

Ren let a sigh of relief out, knowing he was that much closer to moving on from this situation. He followed the other closely, being led through a hallway to a stair case. Without a word spoken the two moved up two flights of stairs to the second set of dorms.

Ren expected something smaller but Watanabe academy dorms actually looked like they might be nice. Of course it was too early for Ren to judge because he hadn't seen the inside of one.

Ren looked on the name plates as they walked through a hall of double person dorms. That was something Watanabe was better for than Saotome, if you signed up early enough you could get a single person room.

Of course Ren was too caught up in the name plates to notice that the light haired student he was following had stopped and started to unlock his dorm. He came to an abrupt stop just in enough time so he didn't run into Keiichi.

"If he verbally attacks you, that's on you. I can't account for his current anger level because I haven't seen him since he left for school this morning," Keiichi finished unlocking the door and stepped to the side.

Ren looked at him before he entered the door as silently as he could. He closed the door behind, squinting his eyes because the room was so dimly lit.

The room wasn't split in half with the decoration like most of the Saotome dorms were. It had identical beds, desks, televisions, dressers, and night stands. Although the poster's on each side were a lot different from each other.

Ren suspected that Shouta's side of the room was the side closest to the door, because the walls were covered with photographers and magazine covers that were probably from his mother. The desks and dressers had different things on them for the individual.

The older student was so busy scanning the design of the room to notice the smaller boy sitting on the bed. He was wearing a long early Nineteen hundreds Coca-Cola logo shirt.

Ren finally noticed the boy sitting on his bed looking up. His brow furrowed and his upper lip twitching; he was not happy to see Ren.

He moved the damp hair from his face and almost spat out his words. "What the hell are you doing here? How did you even find me?"

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine tonight." Ren laughed, watching the boy unfold his legs and lift himself from the bed.

Ren had never noticed how small the boy really was until he found himself scanning his legs. They were smaller than most women he'd been with. Laughing to himself as he imagined Shouta with skeleton legs walking around.

"I would never be happy to see you! Get lost!" Shouta threw his notebook at the man as he yelled his words.

Ren lifted his hands up causing the note bad to bounce right off and hit the floor. He was expecting anger but not to have some 12 year old looking brat throw shit at him pissed him off.

He'd gone out of his way try and help the kid and all he got in return was yelling and things being chucked at his head.

"Knock it off Shouta, I came here for a good reason and you better shut up and listen before I do something we'll both regret." Ren's tone stayed at the same level, he was good at maintaining his cool.

"How about…you go DIE!" The younger one was shocked to hear the other call out his first name like that but he didn't care he just wanted the playboy out of his room.

Shouta picked up his text book to throw it at him. Ren's eyes widened, the text book was much bigger and heavier than the notebook and he wouldn't be able to block it like nothing.

Before Shouta could even pull back his arm; Ren grabbed ahold of both his wrists and pulled him forward.

He twirled both them around in a 90 degree motion, so that Shouta's back was now towards the door and Ren's back was to the bed.

"Ok let's do it this way, you get to shut up and I get to talk." Ren usually wasn't that aggressive but he was done with Shouta, the painting, and the whole situation.

Shouta's wrist was grasped so tight it caused him to drop the book. He met the taller student's gaze with a glare.

"Stubborn little piece of work…I missed school, spent all day on a computer and on the phne, and made a trip all the way here to give you this and all you can do is be a little bitch." Ren let one of the other's wrists go to pull the paper with the name and address on it out.

Before Shouta could say or do anything about it, Ren unfolded it to show the scribbles on it. Shouta just squinted at it; he'd gotten use to reading foreign address due to his mother.

"This woman has a copy of the magazine that has that picture you painted in it, an original copy from the company owner. Just email her and tell her any price she wants she can have and I'll take care of it." Ren pressed the paper against the younger one's chest.

The painter replaced the bigger, stronger hand with his own hand so he could pocket the paper. He was kind of speechless with the information he was just given.

"T-Thank you…" Shouta spoke silently as if he was suddenly sheepish with Ren.

"Yeah, and by the way I'm not doing this because I'm admitting to anything but because your painting shouldn't suffer over petty stuff." The singer let the younger one go and stepped back.

He scanned the boy expression; he looked like he wanted to apologize and almost like he wanted to cry. He didn't actually get to see the kid cry so he kind of got excited thinking he might see the vulnerable side to the usually monotone brat.

Quickly maintaining his previous thoughts of being irritated and wanting to leave he just frowned.

"Don't make such lousy faces; it only looks cute on pretty girls." Ren waved his hand as if shooing Shouta from his sight.

The serious student moved out of the way of the door so the player could leave. He was happy about the other leaving but felt like he had something more he wanted to say. Before he could even give those thoughts a second look, Ren was out the door.

Shouta was left with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and he wanted


	8. Chapter Seven - How Hard We Fall

**Authors Note:**  
So I lied ;A; I didn't post a Picture on my tumblr amaroelogiare.t(umblr).com yet. I haven't even posted the last chapter, I will post chapter six as soon as I finish the picture. I am also working on more pictures for this series that I'll be posting on my tumblr. Also I'll be post weekly chapters until I get caught up with editing the chapters I've pre-written. Please Enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Seven – How hard we fall.**

With the weeks following Ren's visit to Shouta's dorm, almost the entire group that usually hung around at lunch had heard. There were plenty of questions but Ren had made it clear he had no interest in speaking of what happened and Shouta had been spending less and less time around the group.

Tokiya hadn't gone around the group in fear of how he would approach Shouta. The image of the young painter crying was still fresh in his mind. He'd barely gotten to know Shouta but it seemed that the young painter had everything he lacked, every ounce of passion he needed was just fuming off of him.

So seeing the boy cry made the dark haired singer realize how fragile their dreams are, how far they could climbed and how hard they could fall.

Ren on the other hand passed by the table every day at during lunch, talking with everyone so casually but inside he cringed. He knew that Shouta was avoiding them; to be specific the boy was avoiding him.

The orange toned playboy hadn't seen the girls that vandalized Shouta's painter either. He knew that they could be petty and harsh. He let an exaggerated sigh through his perfectly formed lips.

"Ichinose Tokiya sounds like a more willing to do as told version of my student Manabe Shouta." Could be heard throughout the almost empty hallway.

It was one of the very rare times Ren wasn't swarmed with girls. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw what he assumed to be a Watanabe teacher walking side by side with Class A's teacher Ringo.

"Well I've met Manabe-kun indirectly through some of the Saotome students he's befriended." Ringo smiled his signature smile at the man.

"Befriended you say, that doesn't sound like the Manabe I know." The other chuckled, like Ringo had told some kind of hilarious joke.

"Really, what do you mean? My students Nanami Haruka and Ittoki Otoya seem to be fond of him." Ringo tilted his head at the other teacher, raising one of his eye brows.

The Salt and pepper haired man set his fist to his mouth to clear his throat.  
"Well one of my biggest concerns of Manabe is that he doesn't even try to connect with any other students, and all the meetings I set up with his mother go the same way. She'll dismiss my concern and tell me that Manabe's first concern isn't to be Mr. Popular but to further his life." He explained.

"I mean don't get me wrong, I'm all for him being an exceptional student but for him to completely ignore the other students and scare them off with his monotone expression and harsh tongue is what I'm more worried about. I've had the boy for two years now and every time his mother comes home from work he gets worse, I think that he grew up with some form of separation anxiety from his mother coming and going from his life from such a young age."

"I didn't know that you had felt so strongly, does his father not come around either?" Ringo set the palm of his hand against his cheek.

"Last time I asked, she shut me down and told me that he had no father. So imagine being a small child and having your only parent gone for months at a time and coming home for a week just to be leaving for longer than before. I think he has a hard time with friends because he doesn't know how to maintain a solid relationship with someone who isn't coming and going from his life." The teacher had taken a lot of time to try and figure Shouta out.

"Rather than feeling bad for Manabe, I wonder about him. How far will he go if he can't maintain at least one solid relationship with someone?"

When they reached the area that Ren was loafing at, the playboy was gone. He'd heard enough of that teacher's over analyzed report on the brat. Had he ever had an actual conversation with Shouta, Ren couldn't help but grip his hand into a tight fist.

_His mother didn't fuck him up, his mother inspired him; It helped him see things that he wouldn't have been able to unless she left. He achieved all he could for his mother just like I do for my mot-_

He stopped mid-step, his brain completely blank for the first time in a long time. He mentally cursed himself for what he was about to think. He wasn't going to this school for any other reason but to be a 'poster boy' for his family's company.

* * *

Hakan had practically dragged Shouta out of his homeroom to force him to eat lunch with the group. Her tight grip on his upper arm was almost forcing him to run.

"Hakan…Let go!" Shouta winced out as he felt her grip get tighter.

"No, you've been ignore us for too long. No one is mad at you for what happened, we get it. You were pretty pissed so you made a mistake." Hakan didn't even look back; she didn't want to give him the chance to get out of eating lunch with his friends.

Hakan bit down on her bottom lip, all she could think was that Shouta didn't want friends he wanted to be alone. Even Keiichi hasn't been able to get anything out of him.

"It wasn't a mistake! That asshole walks around like he rules that damn world, someone needed to show that they aren't scared of his 'family' or that they can't be charmed by his fake personality." Shouta snatched his hand back causing his elbow to fly into someone's grip.

"Do you honestly think I'd use my family's power because someone irritated me?" Both Hakan and Shouta turned their head to see Ren standing right behind Shouta.  
The boy's shoulder was tightly in the player's hand.  
"And I'll have you know that my personality isn't fake, it's altered to the dove I'm entertaining, Shou-chan." A smile moved across his face as he spoke the painter's nickname.

Hakan's eyes widened knowing that Ren had heard what Shouta said. She moved her eyes from Ren's perfectly formed face to the back of Shouta's head hoping he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Let me go." Shouta didn't seem to care if Ren heard him or not.

Ren pulled the boy into an embrace, wrapping one arm around his waist and the other hand slid its way to Shouta's face. Hakan choked on what she was seeing, she couldn't even beg Shouta not to hurt Ren now.

"Now for instance, I would change my approach to a more forceful way, making you feel the weight of how much I'm willing to do to get in to your cute little panties." Ren's smile stayed the same but the look in his eyes was actually kind of angry.

Hakan felt her body tense up as Ren's face got closer to Shouta's. Almost like a countdown to a nuclear bomb.

"Eat me." Was heard from the younger one's throat as Ren was only inches from his lips.

Of course Ren wasn't really going to kiss him but he felt he had to get some kind of reaction from the boy. He hated being ignored the worst, it was one thing for someone to curse him or yell at him but it was something completely different when someone ignored him.

"Jinguji-san that's enough, that's highly inappropriate in the school hallway." A voice from behind the group called out.

Hakan had never had some much trouble going through a hallway with Shouta then when they were at Saotome Academy.

The voice belonged to Tokiya; he moved close enough to set his hand on Ren's shoulder. His voice was almost matching to the way Shouta's responded to Ren's actions.

"Oh Ichi, you're no fun. We were only playing a little game." Ren set the boy free and looked back at Tokiya with a mischievous look to him.

"Playing or not, some of the staff aren't exactly happy with either of you right now. Both you and Manabe-san have caused a lot of trouble for them from past events." Tokiya removed his hand from Ren's shoulder.

Ren sneered at the thought of the teacher talking about him; he wondered what crap they were spouting about him.

Tokiya bowed his head at Hakan and Shouta before passing them by. They were all going to the same place but wouldn't get there together.

Hakan looked at her Watanabe academy companion and jerker head in a signal to come on. Not wanting to face Ren any longer, Shouta quickly brushed his Gakuran jacket off and started towards the cafeteria.

* * *

After getting lunch he was forced to sit at their usual table. He wanted to avoid them, not because he was scared they were mad but because he didn't want to see that look in their eyes. Like he was some abused puppy who needed to be coddled. He almost wanted them to be angry with him.

Otoya and Nanami exchanged glances as Shouta sat in between Hakan and Syo.

The blonde singer who was about the same height as Shouta, but his attitude was completely different. Syo had only talked to Shouta directly one other time.

"S-So I heard that the winter formal is going to be held at Watanabe academy this year." Syo felt the tension forming at the table, most of it generating from Shouta.

Hakan perked her head up from eating, talking with a mouth full of food.  
"Yeah?"

"Well I heard that the headmaster over at Watanabe agreed to have it over there because of the building repairs are taking longer than they expected. He probably wants to do it because he feels bad that all his students are all over Saotome academy." Syo nodded in Hakan's direction.

"But wasn't it Saotome-sensei who messed up Watanabe-sensei's buildings in the first place?" Otoya injected himself into the conversation with his question.

"That sounds like something he would do." Shouta mumbled through his chews.

Hakan couldn't help but laugh at Shouta's comment.  
"It would have been great to see Watanabe's face when he saw the damage." The pair exchanged glances before bursting into laughter.

The table sat silently as they watched them laugh. Nanami was happy to see them on such good terms. The rest of the group just watched Shouta cover his mouth with the back of his hand as he laughed.

"Cute!" Otoya spoke up after a few moments of their laughter.

"Huh?" The American caught her breathe from laughing and tilted her head at the red head.

"You two are way too cute! You guy's should make those expressions more often." Otoya pointed at both Hakan and Shouta.

Hakan scratched the back of her head, a blush creeping up her face. Shouta just averted his eyes to his plate and continued eating almost like he was suddenly shy.

"Bashful Shouta is a lot cuter than blank face Shouta; you should make that kind of expression more." A deep voice brushed right against the painter's ear as a pair of hands settled on his shoulders.

Shouta almost spit up all his food hearing that, he jerked his face coming close to colliding his face with the person behind's face.

"Are you giving me a treat by letting me see you blush?" Ren moved his head back to get clear view of the embarrassed boy.

Shouta just scanned the older student's face, he knew that if he said anything it would result in a match of the wits. So in exchange to a rude remark he just turned his face back to his food.

Ren's body tensed up as Shouta ignored him. He removed his hands and stood straight up. He shot a smile to his fan girls.

"You can't ignore me forever." Ren mumbled under his breath as he started to a different table.

Tokiya kept his eye's fixed on Ren as he walked away. It bothered him that he so openly bothered Shouta and didn't even attempt to make things better with him.

"That reminds me! Are you guys going to go to the dance?" Hakan was in the middle of gathering food between her wooden chopsticks when she spoke up.

Everyone at the table looked at her, each person with the same questioning expression.

"Well I know Shouta and I are going but will all of you go?" She pointed to each of the Saotome student's sitting at her table which consisted of Otoya, Nanami, Tokiya, and Syo.

Before any of them could answer Shouta spoke up without moving his eyes from his food.  
"I'm not going."

"I've taken it upon myself to design mine and Shouta's outfit because Shouta has no fashion since and I don't think they sell suits in such a small size." Hakan didn't miss a beat.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I'm not going to some lame ass dance!" Shouta slammed his fist on the table and shot a glare to Hakan.

"Why the hell not?" Hakan slammed her fist down just as hard as the other.

The rest of the table sunk in their chair as the watched the flames gather between the two.

Nanami raised both her hands, moving them from side to side in a fast pace. She always felt so nervous when the pair got this way. She had only known the two for a little while but she learned quickly that things escalated quickly with them.

"Dances are not fun; they're just a waste of time and energy. All I'll be doing is getting all dresses up to be made fun of because I won't have a partner to dance with." Shouta spat out in anger.

"Eat shit! You're going because you need the social interaction." Hakan sneered at his expression.  
"Besides everyone is too scared of you attitude to make of you." She shrugged.

"Manabe-kun, we'll be going. You can dance with us; you don't have to have a date to have fun." Nanami spoke up to try and relieve some of the tension between them.

Both Watanabe students took their eyes away from each other to glance at the rest of the table.

"Yeah, it'll be fun. We get to act all crazy and dance like idiots." Otoya laughed.

As the table began to get amped up for the dance, the dark haired painter sat back in his chair. He wasn't happy about it but it looked like he would never live it down if he didn't go to the dance.

"I'm not very excited to go either, but who knows it might not be that bad."  
Tokiya's voice shook Shouta from his thoughts.

The singer had a serious expression per usual.

"Y-Yeah…" Shouta was a little surprised to see Tokiya trying to reassure him.

Although it wasn't the dance part that worried Shouta, more the choice in dance partner's he preferred.


End file.
